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The 1966 Batmobile
The Batmobile built for and used in the 1966–1968 live action television show Batman (and its film adaptation) was a customized vehicle that originated as a one-off 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car, originally created by William M. Schmidt and his design team at the Lincoln Styling Department. In late 1965 20th Century Fox Television and William Dozier's Greenway Productions contracted renowned Hollywood car customizer Dean Jeffries to design and build a "Batmobile" for their upcoming Batman TV series. He started customizing a 1959 Cadillac, but when the studio wanted the program on the air in January 1966, and therefore filming sooner than he could provide the car, Jeffries was paid off, and the project went to George Barris. He was trying to get Hollywood's attention with the Futura, but aside from "It Started With a Kiss" in 1959, the Futura had been languishing in his Hollywood shop for several years. With only three weeks to finish the Batmobile (although in recent years Jeffries says that his car was dropped because he was told it was needed in "a week and a half",he was quoted in 1988 as saying "three weeks" as well), Barris decided that, rather than building a car from scratch, it would be relatively easy to transform the distinctive Futura into the famous crime-fighting vehicle. Gadgets and Equipment *Bat-glove Compartment *Infrared Bat-dust (glows in light and in dark, but only visible when viewed through the Batmobile's specially tinted windshield) *Emergency Bat-turn Lever (releases the Batmobile's parachute that enables quick turns) *Bat-deflector (diverts a criminal tracking signal, leading them to a miniature Batcave in the middle of nowhere) *Bat-ray (can do many things, such as open van doors) *Super-powered Bat-magnet (for opening steel doors from a distance) *Odor Sensitometer Radar Circuit (puts a certain scent on the radar screen) *Ultrasonic Recorder (also records regular sounds) *Batmobile Parachute Pickup Service Signal (calls forementioned service to pick the Batmobile's parachute off the city street) *Emergency Bat-trunk Lock *Bat-zooka (can fire explosive blasts, or is used to fire bat-ropes to tops of very tall buildings) *Anti Mechanical Bat-ray (renders mechanical apparati useless) *Bat-tering Ram (also known as the Bat-ram, used for knocking down reinforced doors) *Library Paste Bat-dissolving Switch *Bat-safety Belt *Bat-radarscope *Bat-alert Buzzer (in all Bruce's cars, indicates when the Batphone in the Batcave is ringing) *Bat-scope (tv screen that can be used to monitor someone's movements) *Anti-theft Activator (can be disguised as the Start button, fires fireworks from the car) *Anti-fire Activator (fills Batmobile with extinguishing foam) *Bat-ray Projector (fires blue ray from headlights that shut down a car's ignition) *Hidden Bat-laser Beam *Homing Receiver Scope *Inflatable Batmobile (kept in Batmobile for use as a decoy) * Mobile Batphone *Bat-chutes - Parachutes used to stop the car in a hurry. *Bat-turn - A device that allows the Batmobile to make a 360 degree turn. *Emergency Automatic Bat-tire Inflater Trivia *In one episode the Batmobile was stolen by the Penguin and it became The Birdmobile. *Corgi produced two models of the Batmobile in the 1960s, a standard one and a Corgi Juniors one. Both are now highly collectable. *Hot Wheels produced a 1:18th scale Batmobile in 2008,they also released a 1:50th that same year. *Hot Wheels also produced a 1:64th scale in 2007, which is rated by Hollywood Diecast.com as the #1 best diecast star car ever made. *In Ready Player One, the 1966 Batmobile was seen in the Race for the Copper Key. External Links http://www.hollywood-diecast.com/top%20ten%20best.htm Gallery Marshall's 794.JPG|The 1966 Batmobile at the Star Cars Museum DSC01849.JPG|One of 6 steel bodied replicas of the 1966 Batmobile built in the late 1960s. Category:Star Cars Category:Batman Cars Category:Bat Vehicles Category:Star Cars of Comedy Category:Barris Models Category:Batmobiles